


Eleventh Hour

by Katie237



Series: Crisis on Earth 3 [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: AU, Earth-3, Emotional Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Original Character(s), Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2020-10-24 16:20:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20708969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katie237/pseuds/Katie237
Summary: Earth 3's AU-When a mysterious sickness takes over Jay's apprentice, Olivia (AKA Lady Indigo), the E3 speedsters travel to Earth 1 to get help from Team Flash in the hope it isn't as bad as they initially feared. To make matters worse, an unknown source is spreading death in E3 Central City while their new main speedster is down. Coincidence? ZERO HOUR's sequel. - ABANDONED





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to this whole new long story and sequel to Zero Hour, that I've been working on since the spring. For those who've been following me on Twitter, you know it's the truth. It's not an obligation to read the first story if you haven't, but I strongly suggest you do it to see everything that Jay and his apprentice Olivia went through, helped by Barry and his team. I can promise you that this story will be WAY MORE Jay center than the last one.
> 
> Wrote this one because I just LOVE Jay as a character and wish he would be back and introduce the girl he's training as I'm using, for this story, an original character called Olivia. Olivia is a very special speedster who has both superspeed and also the power to heal people up, and she's also the Earth 3 doppelganger of a very special character in my trilogy.
> 
> Anyway, put a LOT of hard work during the summer and spring to get this ready, so please, don't be shy to say hi and leave a comment. It's deeply appreciated.

Nothing in the world would ever beat the smell of coffee enveloping the kitchen early in the morning. If there was one thing that would never get old and would always connect every single world in the multiverse, that was it. Well, maybe except for one or two universes were coffee was banned, that was too bad for them.

It was still early in the morning, but the rising sun was already shining brightly in the sky to start what looks like a perfect day in the making. There wasn't any cloud today, and nature was slowly waking up and announcing itself thanks to the birds singing and the gentle breeze entering through the partly opened window. It was a whole new and beautiful day in Central City for the retired speedster Jay Garrick who was humming quietly while pouring himself a steaming coffee cup in his favourite black mug.

There was nothing to do today but relax and enjoy the sun like yesterday, and the one before that.

It's been four full months now since Jay completed the training of his apprentice, Olivia Woodward. Since then, the young woman has taken over the honours and responsibilities that come with being the guardian of their Earth's Central City. That road hadn't been without bumps, a lot of them actually, but the hero managed to pass the torch. Without a doubt, the worst of these times was a year ago when Jay and Olivia both got captured by this maniac trying to change the timeline to his benefit, a plan that would've worked without the sacrifice of the Cisco Ramon of this universe, Earth 3. That and the tremendous efforts of their allies from Earth 1, the team of this universe's Flash, made to come to their rescue.

The short mental trip into these memories had Jay shivering; both his young apprentice and Barry almost perished during this misadventure, and some of the damage even came from Jay's hands when he was under his captors' control.

It was a miracle that they managed to fix most of the damages done to this Earth and get away with their lives. Well, everyone except for Earth 3's Vibe. They undoubtedly had good guardian angels over their shoulder. These memories might all be linked to events that happened a full year ago, but the fear of losing these two young heroes was still fresh.

Taking a moment to breathe in the fresh air that was coming from the opened window, the speedster allowed himself to relax and brought his mind back to the present; everything was ok. Hell, it was way better than ok. Jay was enjoying a nice retirement with his incredible wife while Olivia was assisting the law and keeping the unnatural Meta threats at bay all around the town on her own, mostly. But it didn't mean she didn't stay in touch to benefit from her mentor's renowned wisdom, or to get some news about how his life with his wife was going.

Speaking of; it was hard for Jay to imagine his life without his loving companion. As on cue, Joan Garrick entered the room; her short grey hair was untied and slightly tangled, while she was wearing her dark red dressing gown. She might have just woken up, but as far as her husband was concerned, she was just as beautiful as if she was wearing her most gorgeous attire.

In her late 50s, Joan wasn't a very tall woman but she sure was a strength to be reckoned with thanks to her relatively strong arms, especially for a woman of her age, and a mind that couldn't be silent when she knew the right path to follow.

No wonder she was such a good fit for the righteous hero.

The speedster smiled tenderly and greeted her. "Morning."

Joan smiled back as she poured herself a cup of hot coffee before joining her fully dressed husband on the sofa who was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and wine-red shirt. In the background, his TV was broadcasting the day's weather at minimum volume, but none of the two adults were paying much attention to it.

"How did you sleep?" Asked the Crimson Comet between two gulps of his hot beverage.

"I-" started his wife.

Whatever was about to come out paused when the TV stole the woman's attention in front of them. The sudden change in the woman's demeanour pushed Jay to turn his head toward the monitor to see what was so fascinating with the weather all of a sudden. After all, what he saw the last time he checked, which was barely a few moments earlier, was pretty dull; the whole week was supposed to be a repeat of today's beautiful weather. So, nothing to see, right?

Except, it wasn't reporting the weather anymore; it changed to something else entirely.

SPECIAL REPORT

That was the huge title written in red at the bottom of the screen. The TV was now displaying poor quality footage, probably filmed on a cheap cell phone, of fighting taking place in the main square of the town, right at the center of many restaurants, shops of all sorts and a tall business tower. It was hard to discern everything that was going on, but it was apparent that a lot of people were screaming and rushing away from the scene where two people were facing each other. On the right was unmistakably The Trickster, who was wearing a bright purple suit shining brightly over a black shirt, and he was a few feet away from a person lying down on the ground. It didn't take long for Jay to recognize who that person was, and the instant his brain made the connection, his blood turned cold.

Lily!

His apprentice, Olivia Woodward, or Lily for short, was on her belly and, from the shaky camera, it looked like she was struggling to get on her forearms. Not only that, but her adversary had a brightly coloured gun, looking like a toy one, aimed right at her and he was closing on her position. Considering how well he knew the Trickster; Jay did not doubt that whatever the man was holding wasn't harmless and that Lily's life was on the line.

Whoever was holding the phone was suddenly jostled and pushed, which prompted the device to drop on the hard ground, efficiently cutting the world from seeing the rest of the fight as the title changed to:

LIVE! LADY INDIGO AND TRICKSTER FIGHTING IN DOWNTOWN

Without losing another second to see if Lily was about to get back up or not, the retired speedster took off. In a fraction of a second, the hero grabbed his old suit, changing into it for the first time in months, and charging toward the scene. His legs stretched over the ground, and his speed increased with every step as he pushed his rusty body back in movement after living out of the action for an extended period.

It barely took seconds to get to the scene, grab the young speedster, and hauled her for a few feet before depositing her on the ground again.

"Indigo, are you okay?" Inquired the older speedster, planting himself in front of his ex-apprentice as he helped her to get back up by grabbing a firm hold on both her forearms.

The way Lily heavily relied on her mentor to stay upright and how carefully deposited the toes of her left foot first on the ground before finally putting weight on it wasn't lost on the older speedster. Neither was how she was putting more charge on her right leg than her left after getting entirely back up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she panted, "he caught me off guard."

Jay frowned her words. Fine? She didn't look fine, but he chose not to say a thing, knowing how prompt she was to hide her injury, a trait he'd seen in more than one young speedster. Kids these days, right?

"What are you doing here?" Asked the speedster's apprentice, "aren't you supposed to be retired?"

Yeah, supposed being the keyword here.

Instead of answering, Jay scanned her from head to toe in the blink of an eye.

The young woman wasn't very tall, almost a full head shorter than Jay was, and she was far from being the most intimidating people on the planet, but she wasn't to be underestimated either. The young Lily, who was only twenty-two years old, was slim and athletic and had beautiful blonde hair tied in a bun behind her head and with red highlights shining brightly in them. Even hidden under her mask, it was apparent that she was a beautiful young lady in her prime who's most attractive feature was her surreal bright green eyes that could hypnotize almost everyone in one glance.

The young lady was wearing a very slightly modified version of her purple and royal blue suit than the one she used to have the first and last time she encountered the Earth 1 team of superheroes. The bright blue top part still had a flashy purple band going up from the hips to the waist on each side and narrowing all the way to the middle part of the suit on both the front and the back of it. In the middle of the purple band was two smaller white lines traced in an X pattern, and a tad higher on her chest, and in the middle of the suit was a round white symbol with the initials L, and I placed in the center.

Her new symbol now had lightning-shaped I crossing the first letter.

Another difference was the two separated white lines on her high V collar and a set of white lines going all around both of her shoulders. Her original blue leather pants and purple boots were completing the outfit alongside her blue and purple mask going all around her head. If there was one element that she sure wasn't going to change was the masterpiece that was her mask; a handmade gift she received from the Earth 1 Cisco during the last time she was in that universe.

Not only that last piece of equipment was beautifully made and perfectly blending with the rest of the suit, but it was also equipped with a small piece of tech placed next to her right ear that was keeping an eye on her vitals. That little box was ensuring she would never exhaust herself beyond breaking point while healing someone else's gruesome injury. Being the only known dual powers speedster out there came with downsides, but Olivia wouldn't trade it with the world. No matter how dangerous it could be for her to transfer part of her energy to another person, which allowed a wounded individual to recover at incredible speed, Olivia would always take great pride in her work even if that also greyed Jay's hair more than once.

Far from being impressed by the sudden apparition of the Flash, the Trickster laughed it off and mockingly asked;

"You still need daddy to save you, don't you?"

"Give it up, Trickster," ordered Jay with a commanding voice, as he protectively put himself between his apprentice and his enemy. He had not breath to waste to correct the crazy man in front of them that Olivia wasn't his blood, even if she pretty much was family at this point.

Instead of giving up, or even losing his smile, the Trickster rose his colourful weapon toward the sky and fired once quickly. Except, what came out wasn't a bullet. And, it wasn't some acid poison nor fire, or anything like that, either. Basically, it was nothing that you could usually expect from the trickster. No, it was only a green flag on a stick that looked straight out of a cartoon.

"Tricked you!" He shouted cheerfully to his confused crowd.

So, Lily's life wasn't in immediate danger? At least, not from getting shot at point-blank. Something was up.

Jay frowned but stayed on his guard, allowing electricity built up around his body; there was no telling with his enemy. He knew from experience that it wasn't a good idea to rush in blindly against his old nemesis 'til he knew what the Trickster was preparing, especially since he somehow already caught off guard Lily.

"Wha-" The end of that sentence never left Jay's lips as a bright green remote-controlled airplane surged from behind the business tower and flew over the crowd, discharging countless black bags that were quickly falling to the ground.

Adrenaline rushed through the speedster's body; he's seen it before. He knew what was in the bags; bombs. It had to be.

"Indigo, get these people away!" Shouted Jay, temporarily forgetting about how unstable the girl was on her feet a mere moment ago.

Being retired for months or not, he'd always been and always will be a hero. That was who Jay was, and nothing could take that away from him, time off or not. His determination to help others no matter what was a characteristic he was sharing with the young woman even if she wasn't in any way related to him. Her huge heart was one of the main reasons why he accepted to train her.

In a rush of wind, Lily disappeared from her spot, only leaving blue and purple flashes of lighting in her trail. They needed to clear the area now!

What was it anyway with these people who stopped running away when they saw their retired hero arriving so that they could watch and film a video to show to their friends? The danger was real, couldn't they see that? Either way, they were now all a target. It probably was a good thing they were two speedsters instead of one, even if that wasn't at all how the day was supposed to go for Jay. Some of these bombs were about to crash not only on the street where people were swiftly zapped away from the scene in a spectacle of lightning moving away and back from the scene, but also on the restaurants and the business tower. The speedsters needed to think fast!

They weren't that far from the small marina; that could do it. Speeding up to the business tower, Jay swiftly passed next to Lady Indigo, who was rushing another person out of the immediate area, and shouted at her:

"Clean the harbor," he commanded before adjusting his trajectory, drifting to the left and taking another direction.

Jay ran on the top of the closest building and released all physical contact from it to propel himself into the air. Then, in mid-air, he grabbed one, then two explosive devices, clutching them tightly against himself.

_Don't blow up now_, silently prayed the experienced speedster as he hit the ground while catching the third device.

He wasn't going to get much more time to make a lot of back and forth trips. Plus, he was going to run out of hands to carry all the bombs. If he didn't make it back to his wife tonight, after supposedly being retired, Joan was going to kill him. Decisions needed to be made. Making one, Jay prompted himself back into action toward another two explosives that were quickly descending toward the ground next to nearby restaurants. The rest of the bombs were heading toward the ground in the middle of the plaza, which was the spot Olivia cleared out first.

The hero's feet touched the ground once more as his yellow lightning flashing brightly all around him as he sped up, gathering more and more speed with each powerful and perfectly balanced stride on his way to approach the new location. Each step was taking him closer to where people were being zapped away, thanks to a beautiful mix of purple and blue flashes of lightning. In what was a mere blink of an eye, Jay made it to the waterside and jumped onto the blue liquid. As long as he didn't decelerate, he wasn't going to sink. Well, not that there was any reason to slow down considering the timing bombs in his hands, literally.

One more second passed.

Passing past the parked boats, and going a few strides forward, Jay dropped the bombs in the water and made a swift U-turn to get back to the harbor.

One more second.

An explosion. Splashes of water. Apologies to the fish too, maybe.

The hero made a quick halt to the waterside, right next to his apprentice and turned his head toward the direction of the plaza from where erupted a few scared screams of citizens and a few explosions from the bombs that couldn't be caught in time. The only ones the speedster left were the explosive devices falling where there wasn't a single soul left and where only the road and hard ground would get damaged. Considering the reaction time he had, that was a good day.

"Are you okay?" He worriedly inquired to the young lady next to him who leaned forward, hands on her knees, as she was seemingly catching her breath while a moderate tidal wave, caused by the explosion, washed over the parked boats and the closest part of the water.

Sweat was covering her forehead, but she wiped it away, heavily breathing.

"Yeah, yeah... I think," she answered, "just tired."

Jay frowned with a knot in his stomach; his instincts were telling him otherwise for some reason.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Figured you guys still deserve the last chapter I had of this story. Enjoy!

"Here we are, are you sure you're okay?" Jay Garrick once again asked Olivia, or Lily, as they both phased inside her small apartment on the other side of the city after coming back from the scene.

Of course, during that time in which they were trying to save the citizens of the city, the Trickster got away somehow. At least, there wasn't any injured, nor loss of life, which was the most important part. Plus, the only reported damages came from the roads touched by the unattended bombs and some boats would need minor repairs thanks to the waves throwing down against the shore. But, other than that, there was nothing to report. In other words, the Earth 3 speedsters did some excellent work overall despite the enemy still in the wind for now.

It was just a matter of time before they'll get him.

"Yeah, just a little tired I guess," assured Lily to answer her mentor's question while taking her gloves and mask off and revealing a bit more of her pale features.

On the bright side, the young woman managed to run back to her apartment in one piece, and she was putting equal weight on all her limbs, all of these were a good sign and an improvement from earlier. Her breathing was also better, and way more under control, but calling her healthy-looking would be a lie. There was also the possibility that Jay was just overprotective of his protégé.

After what happened one year ago, who could blame him?

Jay nodded to acknowledge her answer but didn't add a thing which invited Lily to continue speaking.

"Thanks for the help, I'm sorry you had to disrupt your day off, I'll try harder next time," she apologized while depositing her equipment on the old wooden living room table right next to her.

It probably was a good thing that Olivia didn't have enough money for a maid because that would surely be awkward, or maybe fun too, to have to explain why all these pieces of a superhero costume were lying around all over the place. Even if there were no denying this place would need a little more cleaning.

"No need, I'm always on my day off anyway, you didn't interrupt anything," dismissed the speedster who gently shook his head before taking his helmet off. It was with his iconic item in his hands that he continued, ''you've been pretty busy from what I've seen on the news, you need to take better care of yourself. You should probably rest for the rest of the day, if anything else happens today, I'd take care of it. I'm not that old just yet,'' he added with a wink.

"I will. I am, taking care of myself," Lily smiled reassuringly and correcting herself at the same time. Walking forward, she gently put her right hand on Jay's opposite arm, "don't worry about me, I can handle myself. I'm a big girl."

Exhaustion could be heard in all of her words, but, hopefully, isolated fatigue was all that was.

"Alright," he nodded gracefully and took off running back to his home and his wife, who greeted him back with open arms, literally. All he needed to do was relax and try not to wonder if Lily wasn't too young for such responsibilities.

Thankfully, the rest of the day went just as smoothly as it could be with some of that time spent looking at reporters interviewing witnesses of today's event. The trickster was still out there, but whatever he was planning wasn't going to conclude today, apparently, nor the following morning. During the next morning no text or call came from Lily came, but no news was usually good news, right?

Maybe it was because Jay almost lost her once not that long ago, or because he never had children, but he couldn't bury that hitching sensation inside of him. He'd trust his instincts his whole life, relying on them whether he was rushing into danger as superspeed or taking everyday life decision, so why ignore them now? They sure saved him more than a few times.

Just before noon, after sending a few texts that stayed unanswered, he took his decision to check on his apprentice.

After kissing his wife, Jay took off under the scorching sun and super high humidity level of this hot day. In mere instants, he made it to the girl's apartment and knocked multiple times on the old wooden door, barely glancing at the odd-looking couple walking behind and throwing him questionable looks. It was too bad that being a hero wasn't bringing too big of a pay-check back home, or more like nothing at all, because this smelly building was the last place Olivia deserved to live. Sure, Jay understood her point of view, he could accept that his protégé was afraid of putting her parents at risk by staying with them while she was still in school, in case one of her enemies would ever find out where she lives and follow her back home, but still.

She couldn't live all alone like that her whole life, fearing for her loved ones. Hopefully, once she graduates out of med school, she'll find a more suitable place at the very least.

"Lily?" He shouted again. The hero approached his ear closer to the door and waited, holding his breath. He couldn't hear a thing, so he tried again, ''are you there?''

Alright then. First thing first, the speedster made sure that no one was watching because, even if he was wearing civilian clothes underneath his brown jacket, there was nothing more suspicious than a man walking through solid matter. It was probably best not to have any witnesses. Once he was in the clear, Jay vibrated through the wall of a small apartment and concentrated on catching any possible noises, hoping she wasn't just in the shower or something. Try to explain that.

"Lily?" he asked again, a tad louder this time.

No, nothing. The water wasn't running in any part of this small living space, and no sound was coming from inside the bedroom. Maybe she just decided to go out. How about one last quick look before leaving? When the speedster's feet closed on the partly open bedroom door, he heard a groan, and it wasn't one of annoyance; it was one of discomfort.

Stretching his long legs to move them even faster, Jay entered the room and approached as quickly as he could without tapping into the Speed Force. In the next instant, he finally found the person he was looking for. Olivia was lying on her side, entangled in her sheets, and her reddish forehead was covered in sweat while her blonde hair with red highlights were all messed up. The eyes of Jay's apprentice moved fast underneath their eyelids as if she was in obvious discomfort, or as if she was trapped in the middle of a dangerously disturbing dream.

"Olivia?" Asked Jay, finally closing the remaining distance between himself and his apprentice with the ground creaking underneath his feet.

The instant his right hand went to grab the young woman's uncovered right shoulder, the young speedster gasped and opened her confused eyes, darting around the room for an instant before finally spotting the man right next to her. After a few anxious seconds, confusion turned into recognition, and Lily took a deep breath to calm herself down. She was alright; she was in her bedroom.

"Jay?" She finally asked, slightly uncertain, after scraping her throat and blinking a few times to clear her vision and force her half-asleep eyes to open completely. It certainly didn't help that the room was still a little dark thanks to the still closed curtains.

The speedster nodded, "yeah, it's me," he confirmed.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, looking around and struggling to free herself from the tangled sheets to sit down.

The upper part of her royal blue tank was covered in sweat. It was hard to tell in the dark, but she didn't look that much better than yesterday. Jay's hand went to her forehead to try and get a sense of her temperature, and he frowned after making contact.

"You feel pretty hot, you might have a slight fever," he commented with a definite tad of worry mixed with his words, "how do you feel?"

Lily's mouth opened, probably to throw some snarky remark about her mentor being overprotective but decided against it. He was right; she wasn't feeling so great.

"I do feel a little hot, and tired too. I thought speedsters couldn't get sick," she commented while finally managing to prompt herself on her elbows and her double pillows. Bowing her head down and slightly raising her right forearm, she succeeded in wiping the sweat away from her forehead.

"Well, you know, other than-" she started, before pausing with a cold shiver running down her back. The same thought crossed both minds simultaneously; the events of last year when they got affected by that speedster's virus.

"The only time I got sick since getting my powers was back then," mumbled Jay, with a grim expression on his face. "I need you to be honest with me; were you feeling sick yesterday too when the trickster got to jump on you?"

While she was carefully considering her answer, Lily slowly took the sheet off her grey bottom of pyjamas and turned around to sit on the side of the bed with her legs going off the edge.

"I'm not sure... I was feeling odd, and maybe a tad dizzy there for a second. I was tired, for sure, but I didn't feel as bad as I do now."

Jay paused, considering if she was telling him the entire story before deciding on their next move. "Alright, I'm going to take you to Elvira. Are you feeling okay to run over there?"

Olivia nodded and jumped to the ground, "hopefully"

Well, they didn't have much to lose at that point. The Earth 1's Flash had his team and resources, so why wouldn't they have their contact to go to in case of a problem? Elvira Hamza was a dark-haired Malaysian scientist in her late-30s who moved to Central City over 20 years ago with her parents. The incredibly smart, 5'7 tall, women completed majors in genetics and microbiology in a short amount of time before co-starting her research laboratory.

The scientist that reminded Jay a lot of Dr. Snow from Earth 1 wasn't as skilled as the ice-metahuman in the art of healing wounded people as Barry's close friend, but she was resourceful and had an excellent understanding of the human's body. Elvira got saved by the older speedster many years ago, and her skills came in handy, not that long after their first encounter, when Jay got severely injured and had nowhere to go.

Now that Jay was retired, or supposed to, knowing his apprentice had someone to turn to in case she needed help or support was comforting.

As both people entered the premise of the small, but very well decorated, one floor and a basement, laboratory that had a medical facility vibe to it, they instantly noticed the new guy at the reception who looked up at them. Instead of being the same warm young woman that greeted them, it was a mild-50s, grumpy and cold man with hair that probably hadn't taken a shower for at least two days.

Considering the way this man stared at her, the duo of heroes might as well be wearing their speedster outfit or pyjamas instead of their regular civilian clothes. And, when they requested to see Dr. Hamza, the man's frown deepened. There were only three researchers in the facility, so what was the glare of judgment all about? But, at least, he still granted them access just a few minutes later.

Finally, the duo of heroes stepped out of the waiting room and entered the room with tables filled with equipment on the side of the walls. In the middle of the room, more tables were mixing with shelves that had too many chemicals and liquids of all colours to know what all of them were, even for a scientist like Jay, or a med student like Lily. An extra door was in the back of the room, leading to a smaller, more private space that included a medical bed that both speedsters visited in the past. The second they got inside, the familiar form of their friend Elvira came to meet them with open arms and with a tired smile on her face.

"Hey, it's been a while," she expressed, putting her arms around the older speedster, who returned the hug before letting go and turning slightly on her heels to face the younger person of the trio

"It sure has been a long time," said Lily, barely repressing the smile threatening to appear on her lips.

Elvira chucked. "It sure has," she said, jokingly before slightly moving her head around to explain to the confused Jay what was so funny about this situation, "we've seen each other yesterday actually."

After taking a few seconds to turn around and study both people's features, Elvira spoke again, "you okay there Lily? You look a little tired."

"That's why we're here, we were wondering if you could take a look at me and see if something's wrong."

"Ye...yeah, sure," said Elvira after a split second of hesitation, smiling tenderly. "Come on, girl. I'll get you ready in the back," she said, gently touching the young speedster's arm. "We won't be long, you can wait here, Jay." She nodded before leading the way with the young woman as they headed toward the small adjacent room for the tests.

It took a moment before the mature woman came out of the room, depositing a syringe of blood on the nearest desk and taking off both of her gloves. After throwing them away, she made her way to Jay's side. The man's mouth opened up to speak up the question burning his lips.

"Ho-"

"She fell asleep, it's probably better to let her rest for a little while. I need a coffee; do you want one?" She offered while wiping the sweat off her forehead. There was a lot of it despite the fact the ambient temperature was only slightly hot, but not that much.

Jay almost asked if Lily was alright, but his brain caught up with the offer before he could speak again. Coffee? It sounded great. He smiled and accepted it gratefully when Elvira came back with the drink a few moments later.

"Thanks," said the speedster, taking his third cup of the day, even if it wasn't one pm just yet. It had been a stressful day, one that wasn't over.

"She'll be okay, I promise," assured the woman as she sat down. "I have a feeling it's probably just stress and fatigue. She's been working pretty hard since you retired," she started, before quickly correcting herself when she saw a flicker of guilt passing inside the man's eyes. "I'm not blaming you; it was your decision. But… criminals had been rising trying to test if there are any holes in her armour"

Jay nodded; could it be this simple? He knew from experience how speedsters could indeed reach extreme fatigue, "I should've taken better care of her."

Smiling sadly, the Malaysian women gently reached out, but retracted, "don't worry about it. Just make sure she gets a few days off, and you should do the same too. Let the authorities take over just for a moment; you both deserve the rest."

The hero sighed and took another long gulp, deep in his thoughts for a moment before answering, "maybe you're right. So, there's nothing wrong with her?"

The woman's head tilted toward the desk where she left the syringe, "I did take a blood sample, and I'll take a look at it, but as far as I can tell, nothing serious is happening. She needs a lot of rest in the next few days, no chasing down criminals."

"Thanks, again."

Fatigue? That's not what Jay instinct told him, but who was he to judge? When Olivia woke up, half an hour later, she still looked pale and tired, but she wasn't any worse, which is always a good sign. Right?

Except, as they got out of the laboratory after Elvira promised them to analyze the blood and call them if she found anything else, Olivia stumbled and almost went down. She would've if it weren't for the strong hands grabbing her arms and slowing down her descend, which reduced the damages from going face-first on the hard asphalt to dropping her right knee on the ground.

"Whoa!" She exclaimed, feeling dizzy. Her hands grabbed her spinning head.

"Alright, that's it," said Jay, helping his protégé back on her feet. "We're going to get a second opinion."

"What? Where do you want to go?" Inquired the young speedster.

"We're going on Earth 1."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go, what did you think?
> 
> Thanks again one last time to everyone who took the time to read and support the pieces I wrote in the last few years. See you around! I know we'll probably get to see the real Jay's apprentice in a few weeks on our screen, so all of this will be outdated, but let me know if you're interested in more adventures of Jay and Olivia anyway one day! :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who voted on Twitter about this story. You win; I'm not going to completely delete it, and, bonus, I'm putting back this chapter and it's here to stay.

Barry couldn't stop himself from smiling as he halted into a full stop inside the cortex where his two best friends were waiting for him. Both scientists were ready to congratulate the speedster on a job well done. The hero's cowl went down to reveal his child-like expression that was all over his face, starting with the grin that was going from ear to ear. You could always count on Barry to be the light of the party. The man was always keeping his lighted heart somewhere close to his soul despite all the darkness that had been happening in his life.

No matter how fast he was running, his ability to see the good in people and in some of the darkest situations was his most impressive powers.

"Dude, that was insane!" Excitedly shouted Cisco, who was barely managing to keep himself from sprinting toward his best friend and giving him the most energetic high five in forever.

Barry giggled and joyfully answered, "tell me about it. But, let's try not to do it again. I'm probably going to feel that tomorrow," he joked even if he knew his crazy fast metabolism was protecting him from feeling sore the following day.

Hell, he couldn't even feel the pain of a broken bone the day after shattering it. Well, that was most of the time considering the memories of his first encounter with Tommy Woodward when he was only beginning his adventure as The Streak. And, let's never talk again about the day Zoom broke his back.

Nevertheless, his super healing sure was a little something most people had reasons to be envious of.

"Our Meta is in the care of CCPD's finest; mission accomplished," proudly announced The Flash as he walked closer to his friends who had been helping him from behind the computers. Sweat was pearling on his forehead; it hadn't been an easy fight, "right now I need to crash for the rest of the day. How about you don't even try to call me 'til tomorrow?"

"Who said you could rest?" Playfully teased Cisco as his doctor friend, who was standing right next to her behind the main desk, rolled her eyes.

"That's probably a good idea," said Caitlin, approving Barry's idea with a quick nod and ignoring the last comment.

Her lips were twitching in an attempt to try and stay as serious as possible in this near childish ambiance; someone needed to be the responsible adult of the group. Except, it was hard, not to say near impossible, to stay unaffected by all the energy. In the end, she just allowed the light laugh to escape.

Being part of a superhero team wasn't always easy between the end-of-the-world hanging over their heads, the unspeakable dangers lurking at every corner and sometimes the seemingly insurmountable amount of physical and psychological pain. Having moments like this to enjoy between all of the threats was the main reason to keep going.

"Alright if nobody has a real objection, I guess I'll see you guys later," added Barry when nobody else spoke up after their quick recess. The smiling hero was already flexing his slightly painful muscles to get ready to take off in the next second.

The keyword above was to get ready since his movement got interrupted by Cisco's sudden exclamation.

"Wait!" Shouted the engineer who swiftly leaned over the keyboards just a fraction of a second before a loud beeping sound erupted from the computers. Oh great, just what they needed.

"You better not be messing with me," commented Barry who stopped in his momentum and crossed his arms against his chest, frowning.

Extending his legs forward, the hero strode swiftly to join his friend behind the computers to try and see what was going on.

"I'm not; there's a breach forming downstairs," confirmed Cisco, dead serious.

The engineer's eyes were glued to his computer screen on which was flashing the newly appeared alert. He wasn't faking that one, that was for sure. A groan emanating from the hero who was leaning over his shoulder was the only answer he got.

There go their nice day and Barry's break.

In a flash, literally, the CSI took a hold on the two scientists and transported them with him right into the breach room which was undoubtedly where the new breach was forming. Yup, sure enough, it was there. Whoever, or whatever, was about to get through the beautiful blue breach better not have any malicious intentions because Team Flash was ready to defend their home if needed.

To prove that, Caitlin's eyes colour flickered from brown to pale blue. The ice queen within herself could emerge at any second now in a blink of an eye. Standing side by side with his friends was Cisco, whose fingers were flexing, opening and closing, as he was allowing the energy to flow through his body. He was going to hold his ground and protect his friends and family.

"Could be-" started to say Barry as electricity was building around his limbs, only to get interrupted by Vibe who finished his sentence.

"-could be Jay and Olivia!" Exclaimed the engineer when two forms jumped out of the beautiful blue light before the breach subsided into nothingness. After it disappeared, it only left behind two figures standing in the middle of the room.

Now that the visitors' faces were visible, there was no doubt left about their identity. The whole Earth 1 trio smiled out of joy from seeing their friends again. But they also smiled in relief that no evil metahuman from another Earth came out of the breach to attack them.

Barry's right foot stepped forward, followed by his other one step as he started making his way toward the newly arrived duo while speaking up; ''It's good to see you, how are you?'' He inquired as Jay solemnly took off his winged helmet and gravely looked back at the younger hero. His grave expression gave all the information the Earth 1 friends needed to know about the reason for the visit. So, it wasn't a social call. Of course, it wasn't; it was too good to be true. Why can't heroes visit each other for fun and giggles?

"What's wrong?" asked Cisco, who also picked up on the same dark energy that suddenly filled the room and approached the new arrivals, leaving Caitlin behind in the same movement.

Jay's mouth opened to speak, "the-"

"We think that something might be wrong with me," explained Lily, interrupting her mentor and gaining the attention of the three other people in the room who turned their head in her direction.

Now that the trio of superheroes looked at her, it was true that she didn't look too hot. Lily looked pale, tired, and a little shaky and unstable on her feet. It was difficult to tell from one glance if her condition was worrying or not considering how all these signs could indicate anything from a common cold, or fatigue, to any degenerative diseases. Except, considering her speedster status, chances were that it probably wasn't the first option.

"What's wrong?" Asked Barry while scanning the young woman from head to toe in search of more clues.

"She's been sick since yesterday, and she had a slight fever this morning too," explained Jay with his iconic helmet under his arm, "we didn't want to take any chances considering what happened last year."

"You did the right thing coming here," said Caitlin whose features tensed up and her furrow deepened with worry.

The doctor walked down the small steps leading away from the door and closer to the central part of the room, where everyone else was. The ice meta moved between her friends, brushing them on her way, and went straight to the young lady.

"Come on," she said while reaching out to gently grab the other woman's arm, "we'll find out what's wrong. Don't worry, Lily," she reassuringly told to both the young speedster and, and her mentor, before gesturing toward the exit of the room.

Lily gratefully smiled. "Thanks." She murmured before moving again to stay in the doctor's trail as Caitlin started to make her way out.

The rest of the superheroes followed together for a few steps until Jay took a halt in his walk. While Cisco continued and passed by him, after a slight hesitation, Flash made a stop by the Earth 3 Flash's side.

"Don't worry," said Barry, turning slightly to look at the older hero, "Caitlin's going to figure it out. She's the best at what she's doing; you know that."

Jay nodded, not without a slight uncertainty and hesitation, "I hope so, I can't lose her," he answered, or more like whispered, to ensure none of the rest of them could hear. Mentors and heroes are supposed to give everyone else hope that everything is going to be alright, even if they didn't believe it themselves.

"You won't," assured Barry, forcing a smile on his lips before striding forward again and walking behind the rest of his friends who had a head start.

After making their way into the cortex, the trio of men waited and waited even more. What else were they supposed to do while Caitlin was making her examinations? Whatever the doctor was doing, it was taking so much longer than Elvira's work. All of this waiting wasn't easy on anyone's nerves, especially on Jay's. More than a few times, Barry's words actually repeated themselves inside the older speedster's mind; Caitlin was the best there was, and they had to trust her expertise. That woman was skilled, and she wasn't going to allow a single thing to get past her. No offense to his dear Earth 3's friend, but treating speedsters' illness wasn't Elvira specialty.

The first red flag indicating that something was up was the way Caitlin walked out of the med bay with a grave expression on her tensed features. And, the second clue that something could be wrong was how swiftly the doctor approached the group, while building distance between herself and the room is which her patient was lying. Since the team last saw her, the brunette had tied her hair in a ponytail, and she was holding a tablet in her hands.

"What's wrong?" Asked Barry faster than anyone else; he wasn't just quick on his feet.

Caitlin shook her head and took a quick look down at her electronic device, double-checking her preliminary results, before answering:

"I'm going to need more time to analyze the results, and I want to do more tests before confirming anything," she swiftly started, taking a glance behind her shoulder, before turning back her attention toward the group, "but it seems that her increase fatigue and fever are caused by the stress of having two sets of abilities," she tentatively said.

Jay frowned. "I don't get it, she's been having her speed and her healing abilities for a while, so why now?"

Just as confused, Barry made a subtle nod, "she was fine last year, are you sure about this?"

The doctor looked down and changed the screen of her tablet with one swift touch toward the left.

"As I said, I need to do more tests before I can be 100% certain, but that's the most plausible hypothesis at the moment," she added with her eyes still looking down.

"But, why?" Asked Cisco.

Caitlin took the time to humidify her lips with her tongue and looked back up at her friends before continuing.

"I'm sure, Jay, you have more clues on why she got overly tired in the first place, but no matter what that reason is, her fatigue is making it hard for her Speed-Force to function normally. Meanwhile, her healing powers are trying to kick in and take the relay to restore both her Speed-Force and her general health at the same time-''

"Let me guess; her Speed-Force then tries to fix the damages of the overextended healing powers which is making everything worse..." said Barry, frowning.

The ice meta nodded, "it's a never-ending cycle at that point. Both powers are draining Olivia's energy while trying to fix each other and Lily's general state altogether."

Jay crossed his arms on his chest. "So, all of this started because she over-exhausted herself?"

Caitlin winced, "until I know better, that's my initial guess."

The senior speedster sighed. So, Elvira was right. Partly. He reopened his eyes, the ones he didn't even remember closing and made eye contact with the doctor. "But she'll be, alright? I mean after she gets the proper rest."

A heartbeat, that's how long the doctor's hesitation was, but for a speedster that could be a lifetime and it didn't go unnoticed.

"I gave her something to slightly suppress her powers so we could press pause on that cycle. I also gave her a mild sedative to help her sleep and enough nutrients to boost her system back to health. We're going to start by allowing her body to recover mostly by itself, with minimum use of her abilities, which should help her."

Caitlin smiled reassuringly before adding toward Jay; "Lily's sleeping now and probably won't be awake till the morning. You look tired tool, you should go get some rest, I'll take care of her."

Jay smiled; maybe Lily's condition wasn't as bad as his instincts tried to tell him. Perhaps he was overreacting after last year's events.

"Alright, thank you."

Just as Caitlin predicted, the young girl's eyelids didn't start to flicker until the sun had risen in the sky the following day. A few seconds after her eyes movement, the fingers of her right hands started flexing, closely followed by the blond head going from left to right and left again. A chair creaked not that far from the bed, swiftly followed by soft footsteps on the hard floor.

The heavy eyelids finally opened halfway and met the smiling face of the doctor.

"Hey, welcome back," said Caitlin.

Tired bright green eyes blinked a few times; both of them were filled with confusion as the recollection of where she was and how she ended back on Earth 1 were very slowly coming back to her foggy mind. Olivia scraped her throat a few times before finally responding with recognition in her features;

"Hey," she answered simply.

"How do you feel?" Asked Caitlin, taking a moment to turn her head slightly and take a swift look at the monitors that were keeping a close eye on the young girl's oxygen saturation in her blood, a very important vital.

Olivia took a moment to consider it. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the sensations of her own body before answering;

"I'm sore, tired... but I'm feeling a little better," she said before twisting her head around to try and get a glimpse of the clock that was sitting on the desk. "What time is it?"

"It's morning, you slept for a long time," answered the doctor after one quick look at her watch. It was past 7 am, which meant that Olivia slept for over half a day. She should be way better by now unless the doctor missed something.

Trying to hide her inner worried, Caitlin gently grabbed her patient's right arm and delicately put her fingers on the wrist of Jay's apprentice. The doctor's frowned eyebrows didn't go completely unnoticed.

"What's wrong?"

"Your pulse is still a little fast and uneven," commented the ice meta, before moving her body to the right and grabbing her thermometer in the medicine cabinet. "I'm going to retake your vitals, alright?"

"Hum hum," mumbled the young speedster as her attention was stolen away by the wall monitors placed at the back of the cortex. It looked like the screens were displaying the news channel, but it was hard to tell from the present angle. From what Lily could tell, it sure looked like something was happening.

"Olivia?" Asked the doctor while holding her thermometer and trying to get the woman's attention. Except, instead of answering, the speedster just pushed the sheet covering her S.T.A.R. lab pants.

"What's happening? Where's everyone else?"

Gently, but firmly, Olivia pushed away the doctor who positioned herself in front of her, and she removed the pulse oximeter at the tip of her finger before pushing herself on the ground.

"Barry and Jay are out there fighting a fire, but there's nothing you need to worry about. They got this under control," tried to assure the doctor wearing a loose green blouse over her blue jeans.

The door leading to the cortex was open halfway, and all it took was one gentle push from the patient get into the main room while ignoring her doctor's orders. In the central place of the whole building was Cisco, sitting behind the computers. The engineer was wearing one of his favorite Big Bang Theory t-shirts, and most of his attention was centered at the machines.

"Are you guys alright?" Asked the engineer to whoever was listening on the other side.

Leaning over him was Elongated Man, better known as Ralph Dibny, who was wearing one of his usual beige suits and frowning over... well, over whatever was causing his friend to ask if everything was under control. On the other side of the room, the screens were showing live images of a fire going on inside of a warehouse. Judging from the surrounding, it could either be taking place in an industrial district or the warehouses' group from the port, if this Earth's Central City was anything like Earth 3.

Cops, firefighters, and ambulances were parked all around, keeping the crowd away and trying to put down the growing fire. Hopefully, there weren't many unknown flammable products stocked in that area that could make things worse before the speedsters had chances to finish this thing.

"Think so," said Barry's voice over the comms, sounding slightly out of breath. "We just w-"

A loud bang cut Barry's voice short, just as an explosion was seen on live tv.

"BARRY!" Shouted Cisco and Ralph, drowning out Caitlin's gasp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know your final thoughts on this abandoned story, it's always so deeply, deeply appreciated! Who knows? Maybe one day it's gonna have an ending if you guys want it :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I'm leaving the writing world, I figured I would give you everything I wrote. Warning; this is an unfinished chapter I wrote all by myself (didn't want my beta to waste time on this)

Pieces of metal and wooden scrap flew all around the area following the loud explosion. The debris in the morning sky accompanied the rising black smoke that was growing more opaque and dense with every passing second. It didn't look good for whoever was close to that zone. To add to the already existing concern, only statics was answering the frantic cries on the comms for a moment.

With his breath getting stuck in his windpipe, Cisco jumped in his seat and leaned forward and closer to the screen. Did someone tell him that his movement wouldn't bring any assistance to his friends? Olivia's heart was racing, and the adrenaline was rushing through her veins; whatever fatigue she's been feeling since waking up was gone for now.

"Barry? Jay? Answer her guys," tried the engineer again, in a renewed effort to restore the communications.

"I should probably head over there and help them," suggested Olivia. Sick or not, rushing into action to save others was what heroes do.

Finally leaving the medical room, Caitlin raced past Jay's apprentice before making a full stop between her two friends behind the computers and take a good look at Barry's vitals. They were off the chart; the Flash's heartbeat was too fast, and his blood pressure was too high. But at least he was still with them, which was always good news. While the whole Earth 1 team attention was focused on the real-time information given to them about their friend's status, none of them noticed the way Lily, who was still standing next to the medical bay's door, suddenly shuddered for a second.

The young woman's head leaned forward, and she caught it with her right hand while grabbing the side of the med bay door with her other hand.

"Barry?" Caitlin Inquired on the mic.

Statics.

"We're ok. We're both good," finally answered Jay's voice, "that was a close one, but I'm pretty sure we got everyone out before the explosion."

Sighs of relief and stressed laughs echoed in the room.

"How about you stop doing that?" Suggested Ralph, shaking his head.

"We're gonna try," promised Barry. His voice sounded a little rough, but otherwise, it seemed okay, "we have a fire to take care of now."

As soon as the speedster was done talking, both Flash took off running again. The duo's spectacle of wind and yellow flashes of lightning brightened the scene and mixed with the bright colors of the dangerous fire destroying everything in his wake. Now that every civilian was out and that both speedsters were seemingly unarmed by the latest explosion of the chemical products stocked in the warehouse, it was time to make a stop to all of this.

One, two, three...ten...

After countless tours running around the fire and cutting its oxygen's apport, the duo of heroes finally put it out. Mission accomplished.

Now that the main inferno was out, the firefighters could take care of whatever remaining residual dangers there might still be in the area, and the authorities could take care of every person who might've been affected. The heroes' job was done for now. Well, they were done for this particular alert at least, and hopefully for the rest of the day too. There was nothing wrong in hoping, right?

Leaving the area where the main action unfolded, the two Flashes rushed to the top of another building right by the waterfront and about a hundred feet or so away from what used to be the burning building. As the speedster slowed down, by shortening the length of their strides to the minimum and swiftly cutting their connection to the Speedforce, Jay stumbled and almost went to his knees.

"Jay!"

Swiftly reacting, Barry extended his arms and bent his own body; he was ready to reach out for his falling friend if needed. Realizing the Earth 3's hero wasn't going to fall on his face, and managed to stay upright, the youngest hero stopped in his movement.

"Whoa, you ok there?" Asked Barry, frozen in the same position and unsure if his help was needed or not.

Jay was as still as his younger friend; the man was leaning forward with his left foot in front, and his arms were slightly advance on each side of his body. For a moment, the Crimson Comet seemed to consider his situation and to verify his balance before straightening himself up.

"Yeah, I'm ok. I just took a bad step there, I must be tired," he slowly said.

"Are you sure?" Barry frowned as he also regained a more stable and more natural standing position.

"To be honest, my head hurts a little. But, it's probably because of all the chemicals that were burning in that building. It's gonna be fine in a few moments."

After a short hesitation where Barry considered asking again Jay if he was ok, the CSI decided to let go of the issue, "if you say so. I'll admit that I do sense a headache of my own coming up. We should probably get away from here and get some fresh air elsewhere."

Jay nodded and smiled, "agreed. What do you say we go take a coffee before going back to the lab?"

"There's not going to be broken coffee cup involved this time, right?" Half-joked Barry, who barely managed to contain his inner twelve years old smile.

Jay chuckled, or more like blew air out of his nose.

"I promise," he said before the amusement in his face turned into something a little more grave, "I just wish our team up would've been under better circumstances."

Barry signed and turned his head around to look straight ahead, "yeah, me too."

Moving slightly, Barry positioned himself in front of the older man before speaking up, "hey, Caitlin is the best there is, you know that. Olivia is going to be back on her feet in no time," he said, trying to reassure the speedster.

After turning around, Jay started walking toward the three old wooden half-broken chairs sitting on the top of the two floors warehouses, and a few steps away from the edge, that had probably been left there by some employees.

"I hope so. Lily's a good kid; she doesn't deserve any of this."

Olivia's mentor made a pause and took his helmet off, bringing it under his arm, as Barry grew closer, "plus we still need to take care of the Trickster back home before he does more damage," continued Jay.

"I can help you with that," said Barry, speaking a little louder than before as the old roof was creaking underneath his red boots while he was trying to approach the other man.

As he was answering, Barry pondered the chances of anyone spotting him from downstairs if he was to take his cowl off. It didn't look like they were going to go out there and grab their coffee cup before getting into a more private conversation.

Nevermind, there was no need to finish that thought because their conversation got cut short in the next instant by a voice speaking in their ears. Cisco's voice.

"Hey guys, you should probably head back over here like right now," said the scientist.

His tone of voice was serious, not life-or-death-situation-in-the-next-minute-or-so serious, but still grim. Faster than his older friend, Barry brought his right hand to his ear and pressed his comm, to ensure he would hear everything clearly, before answering;

"What's going on?"

"Olivia woke up a few moments ago-"

Ok, that didn't sound too bad at first. Except, Cisco wasn't done talking.

"-and she just passed out again, in the middle of the cortex. You really might want to come back here."

"We're coming back," said Jay for both of them, jumping back on his feet. And, just like that, they were gone in a flash.

In the time it took for both men to arrive, which wasn't very long, Caitlin and Ralph had already rushed the young woman back to her bed in the medical room. That was fast, unless some time had already passed between the incident and the engineer calling the duo to let them know they had to get their ass back. Lying unconscious on the bed was Olivia, who was still wearing her grey pants and her black t-shirt, and her composure was a little pale. But, other than that, there didn't seem to be any physical wound or any visual clue that would explain her fainting, not that the speedsters expected any. After all, there shouldn't be any reason for her to get injured while inside the lab.

So much for bringing her back to health with some nutriments and a good night's rest.

In full doctor's mode, Caitlin was leaning over her patient and trying her best to rouse her up by gently tapping her face and shaking her slightly; "Olivia? Lily? Can you hear me?"

Now that his job was done, Ralph had walked a few steps behind, allowing their health specialist to take all the needed space to work. Cisco stayed right outside the room, peaking in and waiting for the cue that would let him know his help was needed.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Inquired Jay, walking straight next to the engineer.

For a moment, Cisco stayed silent as he was unable to detach his eyes from the activity of his doctor friend rushing all around, flashing a penlight in the girl's eyes and trying to take all the vitals that she couldn't manage to get earlier thanks to the speedster's stubbornness. Was it an obligation for all speedsters that have that characteristic? While still looking elsewhere, Cisco finally decided, to answer:

"I'm not sure. We were talking among ourselves while surveying what was happening on the TV and she just collapsed. No warning, no scream, no nothing. She just dropped like a rock," he explained.

"How long had she been up before passing out?" Asked Barry, who walked a step forward, which partly blocked his friends' view of the scene.

Cisco shrugged, "a few minutes, I think. She'd just woken up. She seemed fine as far as I could tell from the glance I got, but I'm not sure since I was too concentrated on the fire."

"I think I saw her looking dizzy from the corner of my eyes before she passed out," commented Elongated Man who somehow managed to close on their position while staying undetected by the three men.

"Cisco," called out the doctor, "I need your help over here. I want her hooked her on monitors so I can follow her vitals. Everyone else; out," firmly ordered the woman with enough authority to get her words carried out.

It sure felt like groundhog day in the lab for Barry and Jay as they once again found themselves sitting in the cortex, waiting impatiently for news about what was going on on the other side of the closed door. The only difference this time is that it was Ralph who was staying with them instead of the engineer who didn't join them 'till at least half an hour later. The annoying repetitive tapping on the desk from the Elongated Man almost earned him to have something thrown at him. Good thing there wasn't anything in arms range to throw.

Precisely like yesterday, Caitlin finally came out after a long wait. Except, compared to the last time, it took way longer, and she wasn't trying to hide her concern either.

"She's not getting any better, isn't she?" Asked Jay instantly.

The sentence might've been structured as an interrogation, but, honestly, it was more like an affirmation.

Caitlin still shook her head negatively, "no, she's not, but it's not your fault, Jay. I can tell you that. Her energy didn't start being drained because she overworked herself and her fatigue isn't natural; that we can be certain of it."

Far from being relieved, Jay stiffened and got up, "what are you implying?" He crossed his arms on his chest, and his fingers pushed on his speedster uniform, "are you saying someone did this on purpose?" He asked with a hint of accusation and anger.

"I'm not sure, but until I find out what it is, I don't think I can stop Lily from getting any worse," gravely stated the doctor.

Listening carefully to the conversation was Barry who was behind a chair at the main computers, and leaning against the chair's back. Finally moving from his position, the CSI straightened himself up to ask the one question no one was daring to pronounce.

"Is it killing her?"

Caitlin stopped and put her fingers inside the pockets of her white coat, "I'm...I'm not ready to say that just yet, but she can't keep letting her powers draining her strength like that-"

"Her strength is getting depleted even with the powers dampening injections you gave her?" Interrupted Cisco with a question to which his friend nodded affirmatively.

"Yeah, even with it since her immune system is badly weakened." A collective sigh invaded the room before the doctor continued, "I'll keep looking, and...are you ok, Jay?"

All eyes turned toward the oldest speedster who was massaging his forehead with his right hand, eyes closed.

"Humm...yeah, it's just my headache from earlier," he answered, letting go of his head and making eye contact with his worried friends, "no need to worry. Don't we have a trickster to take care of instead?"

**THE END ...(see note below)**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go, that's absolutely everything I've done before giving up writing. The real ending was supposed to be around chapter 15 or so, and it would have been realllllyyyyyyyyyyyy Bittersweet. Letting your imagination run wild on what might've happened. Love you all!


	5. Author's Note

**Hello everyone**

**It's been a long time; already over 6 months since this story was last updated. If you're following me, you know I've made a poll asking which abandoned stories you would like to revive and a few people voted this story. But, I wanna make sure I'm not gonna waste 15 hours on the next chapter (instead of using them to work on my real novel).**

**is there anyone here who made it to the end of chapter 4 and who's interested in chapter 5?**

**If so, what are you hoping for Jay and his apprentice?**

**Author's Note:**

> What did you think of this first chapter? Let me know your thoughts and if you're on the train for the second chapter.


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